Roderick Mackenzie (January 5, 1868 – April 29, 1957) was a Canadian politician and pioneer merchant. He served in the

Legislative Assembly of British Columbia The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia () is the deliberative assembly of the Legislature of British Columbia, in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The other component of the Legislature is the lieutenant governor of British Columbi ...

from 1928 until he was defeated in the 1933 election, from the electoral district of Cariboo, as a Conservative. Roderick was a merchant from Williams Lake. Born in

Applecross Applecross ( , 'The Sanctuary', historically anglicized as 'Combrich') is a peninsula in Wester Ross, in the Scottish Highlands. It is bounded by Loch Kishorn to the south, Loch Torridon to the north, and Glen Shieldaig to the east. On its wes ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

a remote peninsula across from the

Isle of Skye The Isle of Skye, or simply Skye, is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate from a mountainous hub dominated by the Cuillin, the rocky slopes of which provide some of ...

which could only be accessed by boat in the winter until the 1950s. He was the son of Murdo and Mary Mackenzie. Roderick served in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

as a soldier in the

Boer War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic an ...

in 1899 as part of the Highland Regiment. He later returned there to work as a merchant. He married Elizabeth Maclagan of Perth, whom he met while she acted as the hostess of Lord Middleton's Applecross estate. Her relative was the Factor of the estate. Since he was a bachelor, he asked her to join him to be the hostess there. In Rosebank, South Africa, now part of

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

, Roderick and Elizabeth had three children, Iain, Anne and John. Iain died as an infant of dysentery. The family emigrated to Canada in 1908 and Roderick, along with business partner Jim Fraser, started Mackenzie's Ltd. in Squamish in 1912, where their youngest son Alistair was born. In 1918, Mackenzie and Fraser opened another store in Williams Lake at the very beginning of the town's formation. In 1921, a fire burned down most of the businesses on Railway Avenue, but Mackenzie and Fraser rebuilt. In 1924, Fraser left Roderick to run Mackenzie's Ltd. on his own. In his book, The Fraser, Bruce Hutchinson mentioned Roderick as a renowned and visionary salesman and merchant. The Squamish store was later run by Alistair Mackenzie and his wife Pauline. A third store in Wells was opened in the 1930s and was run by eldest son Jack. The Williams Lake store was later run by daughter Anne's husband, Douglas Stevenson. Railway Avenue in Williams Lake became Mackenzie Avenue, named for the store and the family that ran it. The creation of Scout Island Park is a legacy of Roderick Mackenzie's term as an MLA. The Mackenzie family donated land to the city for a golf course. Golf was a passion for Roderick and his daughter Anne. The golf course was later demolished to create the Boitano Mall, and another golf course was created. Roderick and Elizabeth Mackenzie's daughter, Anne Mackenzie Stevenson, was a teacher and school counselor in Williams Lake. She had a junior high school named after her. When the school was incorporated into a new Williams Lake campus for Thompson Rivers University, the library was named for her. In 1982, Anne was given an honorary doctorate from Simon Fraser University for her work in education.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:MacKenzie, Roderick 1868 births 1957 deaths British Columbia Conservative Party MLAs British emigrants to Canada 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia